Wednesday, February 17, 2016

How to Preserve Bread.

I have a
short piece for you today. It was intended to be longer, but other tasks got in
the way. From The Eclectic Magazine of
Foreign Literature, Science, and Art (New York, 1870), I give you an
article on preserving bread. I hope to follow it up tomorrow with some
instructions for preserving butter.

Preserving
Bread.

Bread becomes mouldy and sour from the action of the moisture
it contains. When carefully dried, bread will keep sweet for a very long time.
Any process by which fermented bread can be preserved for an indefinite length
of time would be a great boon to travellers in countries where bread cannot be
procured, and to sailors, who would find it a very agreeable change from
ordinary ship biscuits. The following process for effecting this object has
been lately patented, and it possesses this advantage, that the bread being
compressed can be packed in a smaller compass, and is therefore very portable.
Well-made and well-baked bread is exposed to a current of dry air; the
evaporation of the moisture should be slow, in order that the bread may not
crack. The duration of this drying process varies from eight to fifteen days,
and depends on the size of the loaves and the form of drying apparatus adopted.
If the bread were compressed in the state in which it is left by the
desiccation it would break; and to prevent this it must, before being pressed,
be submitted during four or five minutes to a heat of from 150° to 200° C., in
a stove filled with steam. To effect this operation the bread is arranged in
layers, separated by iron plates, which form moulds in which the bread will
assume the shape and size previously determined upon. These layers are loaded
upon a cast-iron carriage running upon rails, and thus introduced into a stove
which is immediately closed; in a few minutes the bread becomes soft, although
it will have absorbed but a very small quantity of water: the load or batch is
then withdrawn and pushed by means of a carriage between two pressing plates,
in order to be compressed. Any press will serve, but as the pressure should be
rapid and powerful the hydraulic press is best. The bread should remain in the
press for twenty-four hours; it may then be removed, is dry and cold,
and will preserve the shape which has been impressed upon it. Bread thus
prepared should be put in cases to preserve it from the attack of insects, and
should be stored in places free from damp; it may thus be preserved for several
years. This compressed bread has a nice color, the teeth masticate it without
effort, the fluids of the mouth penetrate it rapidly, it has an agreeable taste
and digests readily; a piece three ounces in weight, thrown into broth, will
absorb, in three or four minutes, fifteen ounces of liquid and swell
considerably.